


The Jinxed Charm

by TheGrinch



Category: Baby Driver (2017)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Mild Language, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-11 23:56:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11725248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheGrinch/pseuds/TheGrinch
Summary: Baby just fucked up the heist. Put a bunch of rods through Bats, put Darling and Buddy on the run right out in the open and put Doc's reputation down the drain. He's a dead man walking. Joe and Debbie are his priority, he needs to get them to safety before anyone can hurt them. So why doesn't he just grab the bag and go? He should. He doesn't and he knows he'll regret it.





	The Jinxed Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone :)
> 
> So I just watched Baby Driver the other day and fell in love with it. 
> 
> This is just something I was toying with in my mind and thought, what the hell? I'm just seeing where this goes so please bear with me. It might become multi-chaptered but I'll see how I feel and what response is like to this first. 
> 
>    
> DIVERGES AFTER DARLING IS SHOT BY THE COPS.
> 
> Any mistakes are my own and seeing as I'm tired (which is never a good time to post a story :D ) I apologise for any errors. Feel free to point them out. Also, please just read and review in general.
> 
> I own nothing except this story idea.

Darling’s body slumped to the ground, her guns clattering to the concrete in such a way that Baby manages to hear it over all the bullets and music. 

Fuck. He needs to get out of there now; Buddy’s going to kill him. If the cops don’t first. But even with his mind screaming at a million miles a minute to move, he couldn’t. He should. Darling was probably dead and- shit, he couldn’t even see Buddy now. Fuck. It’s all his fault. But it’s not. They knew the stakes. 

Even as he shoves the money bag into the backseat and reaches across the car, Baby knows this is a bad idea. Darling was probably dead for God’s sake. 

She’s heavier than she looks, almost scarily so. Baby realises how much he also underestimated how awkward it was to buckle someone else into a car. Shitting hell. He’s just about got her strapped in when he sees Buddy out of the corner of his eye. The older man’s standing up and next thing Baby knows, bullets are flying from Buddy’s gun at the cops. The look on his face makes Baby slam on the car pedals twice as hard as he needs to. He did not want that train of pyscho in his car right now, especially if Darling was dead. 

Buddy only seems to remember that Baby exists when the driver crashes into the car behind him. The guy had clearly lost it because he didn’t even seem to notice that his wife was in the car as he started firing at Baby’s direction instead. The bullets shattered the glass, all of them somehow just managing to miss the people inside the car. Baby looked in the rear view, checking it was clear for him to try the crazy ass idea in his head, but the bullet that buried itself an inch over in the head-seat had him slamming the pedals and shifting the gear as the beat dropped on the song without any hesitation. Though the row was clear, Baby paused for a second, waiting for the music to hit the perfect moment to accelerate off on and out of the carpark. 

Blood was getting all over his fingers as he tried to press them against Darling’s neck, her brown hair getting in the way as her head swayed in time with Baby’s driving motions. A pulse. It was barely there but there was one. 

Well shit. Baby wished now he had just left her. Where the fuck could her take her? He couldn’t just push her out of the car at the hospital and the cops were too close behind him for him to have time to carry her in and get back to the car in time. Christ. Darling wasn’t even his priority. His fuck up meant that he needed to get Joe and Debbie somewhere safe and fast, he couldn’t waste time trying to save someone who wouldn’t return the favour. Well, who probably wouldn’t. Might not. Jesus, he was an idiot, some lucky charm. 

The sirens echoed behind him and lights crowded in his mirror as he screeched around the next corner, the smell of burning rubber crawling into his nose. 

“You little shit. You ruined everything Baby.” Baby’s astonished that he even heard the hissed whisper over all the havoc occurring around him; he’s even more shocked that Darling had come around given the amount of blood leeching through her clothing. 

Then her head dropped. Baby swore, reaching over again to check the Darling’s pulse. Still there. But it was fainter. Then again she was bleeding all over the place, she was hardly going to start singing the music for Fame. 

It took another song for Baby to ditch the cops and one more to think of where to go. He just hoped it would work. When Doc took him there a few years earlier and told him to never tell anyone, Baby was pretty sure that definitely included taking half-dead colleagues there. Baby glanced over at Darling. Fuck it. The car protested as its driver renewed his pressure on the pedals. 

The sign for Lincoln Avenue was quickly in sight, Baby turning into the road so sharply that the car almost rolled over. Darling’s head would have slammed into the dashboard had Baby not thrown his arm out as the car ground to a halt a few doors down from the house he wanted. Thankfully the only person around was a jogger heading in the opposite directions and their music was clearly loud given how they didn’t even turn when Baby stopped. 

Baby tore his jacket off, throwing it over the worst coloured part of Darling’s coat as he scooped the brunette into his arms and ran towards the house, kicking at the door when he gets to it. For a moment Baby just stares at Sam, not expecting to see the kid who was too engrossed in his game to even notice the pair at his door, before pushing his way in and finally getting the kid to look up and call for ‘mum’. A redheaded woman pokes her head out of a room at the call and Baby sighs in relief at seeing the person he wanted.

“Doc sent me.” It was a lie. But it worked. Rachel – if that was her name, but given that Doc said it was and this was where his nephew lived, Baby was willing to guess that he was telling the truth – ordered him to follow her. She led the way to a heavy door, speedily unlocking it and practically shoved Baby in. 

Medical equipment was arranged everywhere, including an operating table in the middle of the room as well as a fridge stocked with some blood, among other things, and some machines like a heart monitor. The room was practically the same as when Doc had brought him there from what Baby remembered, though to be fair back then Baby had been well out of it, so for all he knew there could have been a dancing octopus in the corner and he wouldn’t have noticed. 

Carefully he lowered Darling’s body to the table, moving back so Rachel could examine her patient better.

“What happened?”

“She was shot.” Rachel just glared at him as she cut Darling’s clothing away, but Baby doesn’t know what she expected, it wasn’t exactly hard to miss. 

“How did you get here?” She demanded, grabbing a nearby stethoscope and putting it against Darling’s chest.

“Car.” The older woman looked up, face stiffening. 

“Please tell me it’s not in my road right now covered in blood.” Baby didn’t answer. “Well shit, get fucking rid of it. Now!”

Buddy looked down to Darling.

“Now, Baby! I’ll look after Sleeping Beauty here.” Baby nodded, slightly surprised that Rachel remembers who he is, moving at top speed towards the front door. There was no sign of the cops as Baby climbed into the car.

His luck doesn’t hold out. However, he succeeds in losing them almost as quickly as they find him. Joe and Debbie fling back to the front of his mind as he changes lanes and Baby berates himself for even letting them slip from his mind. He ditches the car in a half empty car park not far from Joe’s, dumping the car in the furthest corner from the road, but remembering to grab the bag on the backseat. On the way to Joe’s he steals a jacket from the back of a café chair, ignoring the owner’s shouts because he cannot go running through the streets in a shirt as badly stained as his. He runs so fast he can no longer hear the music over the pounding in his ears. 

Seeing Joe on the ground intensifies Baby’s guilt. It’s all his fault. None of this would have happened if he hadn’t stolen Doc’s car all those years ago, if he hadn’t some stupid need to record things, if he hadn’t just snapped. It’s all his fault. Joe protests as Baby shoves the money into anywhere on his guardian he can find, Baby doesn’t stop though. He needs to make this right. To look after Joe. However, he keeps one of the stacks, just in case he and Debbie need the money if there’s problems with the blank orders in the bag. Debbie. 

He calls her, she’s busy so he just leaves a message to be passed on. It’s dark when he finally drops Joe off. Despite everything, the man still cares about him and Baby knows that while Joe may never be his biological dad, Joe’s his real dad. At least he can visit him, unlike his mum. If he isn’t arrested or killed first that is. 

As he drives he tries to make a plan. Can he just leave Darling with Rachel? It’s not like she asked for him to bring a dying criminal to her doorstep. But she knows Doc. Doc would get Darling back to Buddy. Or he might just put a bullet through her head. Shit. Okay. He could pick Darling up and then Debbie? But Darling wouldn’t be in any state to move if she made it. And he can’t bring her, that’d be signing his and Debbie’s death warrants. Maybe he could try find Buddy. Point him in the right direction. Or not. The guy would probably just kill them all. Okay. Grab Debbie, check on Darling and just tell Rachel to drop her off at the cops. That’ll work. He hopes. Fuck, it’ll have to do, he hasn’t got any better right now.

He gets to the diner, tucking the money bag under the passenger seat. Relief floods through him as his eyes fix on Debbie behind the counter, sweat still trickles down his back. They’re not out of the woods yet. The relief drains out of him when she speaks and turns to look at where Buddy is sitting at the counter, sipping a cup of coffee.

“Hey lovebirds. I was hoping I’d catch you too.” There’s a gun. They’re fucked. “And here you are.”

On the TV behind the counter a picture of Bats flashes on the screen, but no picture of Baby, Buddy or Darling meaning that for the moment they’re still safe from the cops. 

“Monica, my darling. She was a good girl. I love, I loved her. What about Debora, Baby, she a good girl? Do you love her?” Baby can see him toying with the gun through the newspaper. 

“Yes I do.” In the corner of his eye he can see Debbie is now staring at him, but Baby doesn’t look at her, he wants to make sure Buddy doesn’t move to shoot them. 

“That’s too bad.” Just as Baby thinks he’s about to shoot them, as though by some fucking divine intervention, a cop car pulls out front. The cop is oblivious to the tension, more interested in getting the key and taking care of his needs. Fucking typical. 

Silently Baby moves to where Buddy is sitting, hoping he can do something to get the other man to back off Debbie. However, Buddy gestures for his cup to be refilled and Debbie comes, hand shaking so much that the liquid overflows.

“That’s enough. Thank you.” Buddy speaks to Debbie and though she’s stepped back, the nervous energy is practically rolling off her in waves so that the two men feel it. Baby doesn’t look at her though, neither does Buddy, they just glare at each other, neither one scaring the other. Inadvertently Baby’s gaze drops to the gun concealed newspaper, considering just how quickly he could grab and shoot it.

“I can see what’s going on in your head Baby. You think you could shoot me before I shoot you? You can try, but you know, there’ll be nowhere to run, nowhere to escape. I loved my wife. Best thing in my life. And because of you, she’s gone-”

The cop comes back, causing Buddy to stop talking to avoid attracting attention, though it’s not like you can bloody miss it. Yet the cop still does, thanking Debbie and disappearing out the door. 

“She might not be. Darling might not be dead I mean.” It rushes out and for the first time since walking through that door, Baby sounds panicked. He’s not panicked, but Buddy was also going for the gun for real this time and he would be able to grab it faster than Baby could. It works. Buddy’s hand pauses and the man cocks his head, face scrunching.

“What?”

“I took her to get help-”

Buddy snorts, there’s no amusement in though. “Nice try Baby, but the news didn’t mention anyone going the hospital-”

“I didn’t go the hospital. I took her to a friend. They’re patching her up.” ‘Friend’ is overplaying it but he can hardly say ‘She’s with someone I’ve only met once and who may or may not hand her over to Doc’.

Buddy’s jaw is tightening, gaze flicking between the gun and the young couple in front of him as he decides what to do. 

“I’ll take you to her, just don’t hurt Debbie.” The woman in question starts to protest, grabbing Baby’s hand, tugging him closer to the counter as though she could pull him through and to safety. There must be something in his eyes because Debbie trails off, sadness coming into her eyes when she realises she’s not going to be able to talk Baby out of it. 

He looks back to Buddy who’s clearly trying to make a decision. Baby doesn’t doubt that he wants to see his wife, he just doesn’t know if he can trust Baby to keep his end of the bargain.

“If you lie to me, I’ll kill you and then I’ll kill her. If my wife’s dead, I’ll kill you and then I’ll kill her. If you try to-”

“You’ll kill us?” Baby cuts in and Buddy grins. It’s scary. 

“Ain’t you the smart one? Our perfect, little Baby. Best driver out there. Doc’s perfect charm.” He slides closer to Baby, gun tucked out of sight in one hand, the other closing on Baby’s wrist. “Let’s go.”

“No! Baby no! Please.” Debbie whispers, hands closing around Baby’s face and the younger man is surprised that Buddy doesn’t just pull him away. 

He doesn’t say anything, pressing his forehead against hers, ignoring the music in his ears as focuses on her. 

“I love you and you never deserved any of this.”

Debbie’s face scrunches and she swallows heavily. “Why do you sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

Baby just smiles. It doesn’t reach his eyes. With the hand that Buddy isn’t death-gripping, he reaches into his pocket and pulls the stack of bills out, pushing them into Debbie’s pocket. 

“Use it for your trip to nowhere, with a plan you don’t have, in a car you can’t afford.” Her lips are on his. They’re soft, a little chapped, but soft and warm. And it’s the last time Baby will feel them, he knows Buddy will kill him whether Darling’s alive or not. 

Suddenly there’s a painful yanking sensation on his hair, forcing him from Debbie as Buddy drags him away and out of the diner into the carpark. He doesn’t know to describe Debbie’s face. He wonders if Buddy looked that way when he saw Darling’s body and thought he’d lost her forever. He might have for all Baby knows at this point. 

“Which car?” Buddy cuts into his thoughts. Baby gestures and involuntarily hisses when Buddy tugs harder and starts moving again. 

Buddy throws Baby at the driver’s door, gun pointed towards the younger man as he gets into the car.

“You bullshit me Baby, and I promise, your little Debbie will not enjoy a quick death.” The glare Baby gives is response enough and Buddy keeps his gun trained on Baby’s stomach as the young driver peels out and onto the road. 

Baby parks around the corner of the road, parking so that the car won’t attract attention. Buddy looks around the area, eyes narrowing as he doesn’t expect Baby to stop in a residential area. 

“You brought her here?” 

Baby nods, turning off the engine and getting out. It’s a cold night, Baby can see his breath in the air; he’d probably be able to see Buddy’s too if the man wasn’t walking a couple of paces behind him. As they climb the doorsteps Buddy moves to the side so that he’s out of sight as Baby rings the doorbell. There’s a light on in the hallway and Baby can see a shadow approaching through the frosted glass windows. 

His face stings, head snapping to the side at the force of the slap he wasn’t expecting. 

“About fucking time. I thought you’d split and left me to deal with Sleeping Beauty. You’re lucky she’s alive because I would have skinned you if you’d left me with a body. Get in.” Rachel’s anger disappears, replaced by concern when Buddy pushes himself into view, wrapping an arm around Baby’s shoulder and squeezing painfully. 

“This is Buddy. He’s Darling’s husband.” The statement doesn’t seem to sooth Rachel, but right now she’d rather cooperate with the man holding the gun than try to keep him out. 

“That’s me.” Buddy laughs and presses down harder on Baby’s shoulder. “And I would very grateful to you, if you would take me to my wife now. You’re lucky your friend’s a miracle worker Baby, you know what would have happened otherwise.”

He shoots a sickly sweet smile at Baby, turning his head slowly back to Rachel. 

The redhead’s face tightens, eyes briefly narrowing at Baby for dragging her into this situation. With that Baby knows he’s not going to be on her list of favourite people anytime soon. If ever. She doesn’t say anything as she lets the men in, making sure to stay behind them, telling Baby to lead the way. 

As Baby opens the door a steady beeping sounds comes over their ears. He exhales quietly but deeply in relief as he spots Darling on the table, her body covered by a sheet as her ruined clothes sit in a pile on the counter. He can see a bandage poking out from the sheet on Darling’s left shoulder, the rest of obviously are hidden under the sheet. She’s out for the count because she doesn’t react to the presence of people in the room. Baby almost falls to the ground with the way Buddy shoves him to the side, practically running to his wife’s side, dropping the gun on the table as he runs his hands over her body, pressing fervent kisses all over her visible skin and rambling something under his breath that the other two conscious people can’t hear.

“Will he kill us?” Rachel’s whisper isn’t fearful, in fact, it’s almost emotionless, clinical. 

Honestly, Baby doesn’t know. The fact that Darling’s alive will certainly pacify the man for a moment. Considering that Rachel is the one responsible for saving Darling’s life, Buddy will most likely spare her, he isn’t that cruel compared to some of the other people Baby’s worked with. But Baby on the other hand? Baby can’t decide whether Buddy will kill him before or after Darling wakes up, after all she’ll probably want to watch the man who almost got her killed die. If keeps Debbie and Joe safe, he doesn’t care which way they do it. 

“He’ll probably let you go.” 

“Not you?” Baby doesn’t answer. “You could go now, while he’s distracted.”

For a long time, most of his life actually, Baby had wanted nothing more than to be able to take off on the open road, free to make it up as he went along. When he met Debbie his plan shifted to incorporate her, the two of them driving along listening to songs and going wherever they wanted. He could still go now, but he’s not dumb or naïve enough to believe that Buddy and Darling will just let him go. Over the years he’s learnt that the two of them are nothing if not vindictive and dedicated when they want to get something. He could take off now, however, he’d be spending the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. Unless someone pissed the pair off even more of course. 

Baby realises he’s spaced out when a hand, not unkindly, is pressing on his shoulder. He just shakes his head and Rachel sighs.

“I told Doc he should have let you go. Debt or no debt, dragging a kid like you into his world was only going to end in tears. He doesn’t know you’re here, does he? I thought so, I guessed when the line was disconnected. I sent Sam to his dad’s just in case.” 

Baby just nods. He doesn’t show his surprise at the fact that Rachel had protested against him working with Doc, few people ever spoke out against the man, but given that she was family, it probably allowed her certain liberties. He’s definitely not surprised though at the fact Doc ignored her, Doc had made it pretty clear to Baby that he wouldn’t let him go. Though considering the past twenty-four hours, Doc’s probably changed his mind regarding that little fact.

Darling’s still unconscious when Buddy turns to look back at Baby and Rachel, face contorted in an expression of thought, one hand moving from Darling’s hair towards the formerly discarded gun.

“Rachel, why don’t you go upstairs and have a drink?” Both Rachel and Buddy seem caught off guard by Baby’s suggestion. The latter picks up the gun off the table, turning fully to face the other two people, an unreadable expression on his face. He doesn’t look happy or satisfied in Baby’s opinion, but neither does he look angry or mad… just nothing.

“No way kid.” Her voice is unwavering and Baby doesn’t feel like he deserves it. She just another person in a long line of people he’s failed or disappointed. A very long line. 

“Think about Sam.” The pair have a stare down, Baby knows he’s won, can see the resignation in Rachel’s eyes. She nods at him, an apology in her face rather than words.

“Your wife’s only alive because he decided she was worth risking the help. You should know that.” There’s a smug satisfaction in her voice as she tells Buddy that, sparing him a glance before shifting to the door. She still obviously hasn’t realised that Baby deserves as much blame for Darling’s earlier condition as he does credit for her current one. 

The door clicks shut, Baby and Buddy left standing and staring at each other, the former waiting for the gun to be aimed and fired.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if anything is OOC, I'm trying to get it all as best as I can from memory but I doubt any of it is perfect. Oh well, please enjoy this attempt as best as you can anyway.


End file.
